PANDI, Bulacan — “Mahirap na masarap,” 50-year-old Marlene Alaban said of her new found life at a housing project in Pandi, Bulacan.
While everyone else is asleep at night, she and her husband, a tricycle driver, are wide awake fighting off mosquitoes inside their tiny house.
“Puro na kami kagat ng lamok eh,” Alaban told this reporter on Tuesday.
The scorching heat during day time, however, makes it also difficult for her to recover her lost sleep.
“Binubuksan ko ang pinto, may kasama akong payong. Natutulog akong nagpapayong,” she said as she managed to laugh at her situation.
They have no water and electricity, but for Alaban, their condition at Pandi Heights is better since they do not have to pay for the rent of their house.
Alaban was among the members of the urban poor group, Kadamay, who took over 5, 278 housing units in this province intended for personnel of the military and police.
Inside the house occupied by Kadamay member Marlene Alaban at a government housing project in Pandi, Bulacan. Kadamay members took the housing units intended for military and police personnel over last March 8, 2017. (Photo by MAILA AGER / INQUIRER.net)
She is aware that they do not own the house and that the government could not just give it away to them.
“Hindi naman talaga siguro pwedeng ibigay kasi hindi naman talaga sa akin ito,” Alaban said.
She added that it would be up to her husband and fellow members in Kadamay to discuss the matter.
Her neighbor, 59-year-old Morillo Demate, also lives with his wife in a similar small house that has no water and electricity. But he has no complaints.
In fact, Demate said, they would be willing to pay the house as long as they could afford it.
“Willing po kami magbabayad kung magkano po ang ibibigay sa amin. Pahulugan, yung makakaya lang po namin,” he said.
Janet Sandollas, another Kadamay member who happens to be at Demate’s house, said she would also be willing to pay for the monthly amortization should she be given a housing unit by the government.
At present, she said she is paying a P1,000 rent in another government housing project nearby.
“Yung mga CR, sa totoo lang hindi maayos,” said Sandollas. “Yung iba tanggal pa nga ang mga bowl eh. Ma’am ito ba yung titirhan ng mga police?”
She nevertheless hopes to get a house that she would pay for a measly P200 a month. All Kadamay members, she said, would be willing to pay their dues anyway.
“Alam mo, kailangan din nating magbayad kasi kelangan din ang iba na mabigyan bahay,” Sandollas told a fellow Kadamay member. “Hindi naman pwedeng ilibre yan kasi kawawa din naman yung nanganailangan ng bahay. Kailangang makapagpatayo ang gobyerno ng bahay pambibigay sa wala ding bahay. Kalangan din nating magbayad.”
“Kailangan nating magbayad talaga kaso lang kailangan din nila itaas ang sahod,” she added. “Yung iba kasi magkano lang naman yung sahod… Magkano lang naman monthly niyan eh – P200 eh kayang kaya na natin yan.”
Hundreds of Kadamay members gathered here as Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito and Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez and other House members conducted an inspection of the housing projects they occupied.
As chairman of the Senate Committee on Urban Planning, Housing, and Resettlement, Ejercito initiated a probe on housing projects after Kadamay’s occupation of the houses here last month. /atm
Typical sleeping area and toilet at the Pandi government housing project. (Photos by MAILA AGER / INQUIRER.net)
Typical kitchen and dining area at the Pandi government housing project. (Photos by MAILA AGER / INQUIRER.net)
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